The Heritage of Rutland Water

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Compiled and Edited by Robert Ovens & Sheila Sleath

Rutland Local History & Record Society Rutland Record Series No 5 Registered Charity No 700273

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Contents

Map of Rutland, circa 1840, with Rutland Water superimposed 2 Foreword 7 The Middle Gwash Valley before and after Rutland Water 8 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction and Abbreviations 11 1 Working the Soil – the Generation of Wealth 1086 to 1800 Ian Ryder 13 2 The Agricultural Revolution and Beyond Edward Baines 25 3 Barnsdale Sue Howlett 45 4 Burley on the Hill Sue Howlett 55 5 Edith Weston: A Queen’s Dowry Sue Howlett 93 6 Egleton: A Glimpse into the Past Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 117 7 Empingham: An Entire Model Village Sue Lee & Jean Orpin 133 8 Hambleton: The Settlement on the Crooked Hill Sue Howlett 149 Aspects of Topography: Lost Footpaths, Footbridges and Bridleways 192 9 Lower Hambleton in 1797 Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 193 Aspects of Topography: An Ancient Ridgeway 210 10 Manton: A ‘Town on a Rock’ Manton Millennium Group with Robert Ovens & Sheila Sleath 211 11 Normanton Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 231 Aspects of Topography: The Egleton to Nether Hambleton Road 282 12 Whitwell: A ‘pretty little village’ Sue Howlett 283 13 Changing Communities Paul Reeve 303 Aspects of Topography: Normanton Park Road 314 14 Rutland Waters Robert Ovens & Sheila Sleath 315 Aspects of Topography: A New Wetland Habitat 348 15 Don’t Dam Rutland Hilary Crowden 349 Aspects of Topography: Normanton Bridge 358 16 The Geology of the Middle Gwash Valley Clive Jones 359 Aspects of Topography: Bull Bridge 368

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17 Planning and Constructing the Reservoir Robert Ovens & Sheila Sleath 369 Map of Archaeological Sites in the Middle Gwash Valley / Archaeological Timeline 402 18 Brooches, Bathhouses and Bones – Archaeology in the Gwash Valley Kate Don 403 Aspects of Topography: High Bridge Road 414 19 The Archaeologists Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 415 20 Medieval Settlements at Nether Hambleton and Whitwell Tim Clough 421 Aspects of Topography: Gibbet Lane 444 21 Lost Homes Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 445 Aspects of Topography: The Stamford to Oakham Turnpike 480 22 Rutland Water: Planning and Developing a Water Supply Reservoir as a World-Class Leisure Venue David Moore 481 23 Fauna and Flora before Rutland Water Mike Griffin 499 Aspects of Topography: Old Barnsdale Hill 528 24 Tim Appleton MBE – Thirty Years of Rutland Water Nature Reserve Sue Howlett & Robert Ovens 529 25 The Birds of Rutland Water Terry Mitcham 575 26 A New Home for the Osprey Barrie Galpin 587 27 A Panorama of Activities at Rutland Water Robert Ovens & Sheila Sleath 601 28 Rutland Water Fishing John Wadham 611 29 Sailing on Rutland Water – Rutland Sailing Club Tony Gray & Mike Barsby 625 Aspects of Topography: New Barnsdale Hill 642 30 Extra, Extra, Read all about it! Sheila Sleath & Robert Ovens 643 Bibliography 665 Index 668

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Chapter 21 Lost Homes Sheila Sleath and Robert Ovens

When over 3,000 acres of land in the Gwash Valley were flooded in order to create Rutland Water, it was inevitable that a great deal would be lost. A pleasant, rural landscape, containing fertile farmland and natural habi- tats, disappeared along with a way of life for those who had to forfeit their homes, farms and livelihoods. An entire hamlet, Nether Hambleton, and its connecting network of footpaths and roads to surrounding communities vanished, and these along with other geographical features were erased from the map. It is difficult to imagine this landscape without water, but fortunately what lay beneath the reservoir is not entirely forgotten. By delving into a vast source of archival material, it is possible to form a picture of what the valley, and life within it, was like in former times. Reports and artefacts from archaeological excavations, historical records, literature, old maps, paintings, photographs and people’s memories all help to provide a picture of ‘what used to be’. This chapter deals specifically with homes which were demolished to make way for the reservoir. Particular emphasis is given to the houses and former occupants of the lost hamlet of Nether Hambleton. Hambleton originally consisted of three parts, Upper, Middle and Nether, but when Nether Hambleton and part of Middle Hambleton were lost as a result of Rutland Water, what remained became simply ‘Hambleton’. The name of Nether, or Lower, Hambleton was always a source of confusion even to those who lived there. Sheila Drake, née Tibbert, who was born at East View in 1944, recorded: ‘We lived in Nether Hambleton which we always The location of called Lower Hambleton. I’m not sure of the correct term. Our address was Upper, Middle and always Lower Hambleton all the time that we lived there, but more recently Nether Hambleton others call it Nether Hambleton. Whether East View and April Cottage [on on J & C Walker’s the Lyndon road from Middle Hambleton] were Lower Hambleton, and map of 1878 Ivydene and Red House round the corner were Nether Hambleton, I don’t know.’ Officially the village was Nether Hambleton, as on Ordnance Survey maps dating from 1824. However, due to its geographical position, it is

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Sheila Drake moving sheep from Upper Hambleton to East View farm in 1956 (Sheila Drake)

understandable that the hamlet was also referred to as Lower Hambleton. It is interesting to note that a 1797 estate notebook (ROLLR DG 7/4/27) list- ing the 9th Earl of Winchilsea and 4th Earl of Nottingham’s tenants (see Chapter 9 – Lower Hambleton in 1797) refers to Lower Hambleton. In general the Hambleton Parish Registers do not differentiate between the three settlements. There are a few references in the burial records to Lower (from as early as 1859) and Middle Hambleton, but none to Nether Hambleton. For the purposes of this chapter, the hamlet and its outlying cottages on the Lyndon road will be referred to as Lower Hambleton. Lower Hambleton

The location of houses in Lower Hambleton in 1970 based on the OS 2nd ed 25" map 1904 (RO)

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Beehive Cottage

Prior to being demolished for what was to become Rutland Water, Beehive Cottage was considered to be one of the oldest cottages in Rutland. It was examined in some detail by members of Rutland Field Research Group for Archaeology and History who, from 1973 until 1976, were carrying out an archaeological excavation on the site of a medieval building in a nearby field. They found that Beehive Cottage was of medieval Beehive construction, the materials used being stone, wattle and daub. Ideally it Cottage from should have been dismantled stone by stone and re-erected elsewhere. the north-west It is difficult to identify the early occupants of this cottage. However the in the 1960s. In 1797 notebook indicates that George Clements, his wife Mary and their six the 1930s the children had just moved into Beehive Cottage. George Clements died in rooms at either 1829 and later Census Returns indicate that a Hugh Springthorpe took over end of the cot- the tenancy until at least 1851. One of George Clements’s daughters, tage were bed- Elizabeth, married Hugh Springthorpe in 1822. rooms, with the Beehive Cottage in kitchen in 1970, believed to between. be the oldest Because of the cottage in Rutland roof design, the (Jim Eaton) ceilings in these rooms were very low (Jim Levisohn ARPS)

Kemmel Freestone, later of Whissendine, went to live in Beehive Cottage in 1934 when he was 14. He had moved from Trimley Marshes, Suffolk, with his mother and stepfather, Bert West. Bert West and Kemmel both worked for Miss Maud Tryon who farmed at Old Hall, Middle Hambleton. Kemmel recollects: ‘Beehive was very old and very, very damp . . . There was no upstairs, it was all on one ground floor. You went in the front door into a room, then you went from one room into the next. There was no back door – as you went in, you had to come out the same way. We had a living room and two bedrooms – one on either side of the main room – and a little kitchenette – you couldn’t swing a cat around in it. We always called the kitchenette the “backus” [back-house]. That’s where we did the washing up and all that – where we put the water. You see, there was only my stepfather, my mother

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and myself and we all lived there and I had a little lean-to place for my own room. Of course I wasn’t very old when I lived there. ‘We got our water from a well in the garden. It had two doors over it which was covered with a large slab of stone. We had to drop a bucket down on a rope to get the water and when it came out the water would be covered with green slime. Sometimes there would be frogs and toads in it. ‘We had a coal fire but although the coalman used to come around on the odd times, we rarely got coal, we mostly used wood. I think my mother had a three-[ring] paraffin burner that she cooked on. We had no electricity but used candles and paraffin lamps that had delicate mantles on them. The toi- let was in a hovel in the garden – it was really just a bucket that had a wooden seat placed over it. We used to have bits of newspaper on a nail on the back of the door.’ The entrance Kemmel and his family left Beehive Cottage in 1938 to live at door to the rear Normanton. Over the next decade the cottage underwent some modernisa- of Beehive tion before being sold. On Wednesday 8th September 1948 the outlying por- Cottage and the tions of the Burley Estates situated in the Vale of Catmose, at Greetham and inclusion of a at Leighfield, were sold by auction under the direction of Major James bedroom in the Hanbury. Beehive Cottage was scheduled to be sold with Hill Top Farm, roof were possi- Upper Hambleton, as Lot 29, and the cottage was described in the following bly a result of manner: improvements ‘THE “BEEHIVE COTTAGE”, situate in North [sic] Hambleton, is a carried out in picturesque Stone-built and Thatched Cottage containing: Sitting Room, the 1940s (Noel Living Room, Bedroom, Bathroom fitted with new bath and “Elsan” Closet: Sharp) Scullery and Pantry, also outside privy, Coal Store and Kitchen Gardens. Total acreage 31 perches.’ Sheila Drake recalls: ‘My first memory of anybody at Beehive Cottage was some people called Hardcastle. When I was at school [in the early 1950s] they were there, because I remember there was a little lad there called Alfie Hardcastle. He must have been about 5 or 6. The road used to get flooded between Beehive Cottage and Hambleton School and I remember helping him to climb along the rail- ings to avoid getting his feet wet. I’ve been into Beehive. As far as I can remember, as you went into the front door there was only one large room, possibly a little room off there and I think there was a sort of loft bedroom. I can’t remember whether you went upstairs or up a ladder. It was when the cottage was empty. I never visited it when there was anybody there. It was a very old cottage.’ Jock Shaw, who lived at the Old Priest House in Upper Hambleton, acquired Beehive Cottage circa 1967 and by 1970 had started to modernise it with the idea of living in it himself. However his plans came to nothing due to the construction of the reservoir.

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Occupants of Beehive Cottage in the Twentieth Century It is difficult to determine the occupants of this cottage and their dates of residence. It appears that many of the tenants did not stay for long. Consequently the following is a very incomplete list: circa 1924-25 Mrs Cumberland 1934-38 Croson family 1938 Mr and Mrs West and Kemmel Freestone April 1939 Jack Ireland circa 1950s Hardcastle family circa 1960s Larry and Dawn Hoyles (née Charity) Watercolour of Beehive by Mary Andrews (Dora Allibone)

Ivydene and Red House

In 1968 Ivydene and Red House were the family homes of Frank and Noel Sharp. Frank lived with his sisters, Ivy and Mary, at Ivydene. Their brother Noel, his wife Dorothy and two daughters, Wendy and Christine, occupied Red House. On hearing of the reservoir proposal, which would swallow up their joint farm, Ivy informed readers of the Stamford Mercury (23rd August 1968) that she was stunned by the news, and added, ‘It’s been our life living here, and I think it will be dreadful if it happens. We are just waiting for the crunch’. Noel Sharp commented, ‘It is heartbreaking. I was born on the farm and my father was here before me. I don’t know where I shall go’. It was not easy adjusting to the possibility of losing their homes and livelihoods. Noel took an active part in the campaign to oppose the scheme but it was all to no avail. By 1975 both farmhouses and their adjacent farm buildings, including a cowshed, milking parlour, implement shed, stables, a dutch barn and a huge grain dryer, had been demolished. Two nearby derelict cottages, Wade’s and Hoyles’, suffered the same fate.

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Aerial view of Ivydene and Red House looking south-east. Ivydene farm is in the foreground (Noel Sharp)

Sharp’s Friesian cows are taken out to Thomas and Ada Sharp were the parents of Mary, Ivy, Tom, Frank and pasture in the Noel. Thomas came to Lower Hambleton as a farmer and grazier to live at 1960s. To the Ivydene about 1915, taking over the tenancy from his relative Edward Ward. left is Wade’s In 1918 Thomas purchased Ivydene and Red House from the Winchilsea Cottage with Estate, and ran them as one farm. He also acquired the two nearby cottages Hoyles’ Cottage later known as Wade’s and Hoyles’. He built up a thriving business which was behind (Canon carried on by four of his children. On his marriage to Dorothy in 1947, Noel John R H moved into Red House. Frank, Ivy and Mary continued to live at Ivydene Prophet) after their parents’ deaths in the early 1960s. During the 1920s, Red House had been home to the Shelton family. Mr Shelton was a wheel- wright and his wife helped Mrs Sharp at Ivydene. Mr Marriott, who had been a butcher in Nottingham, his wife and daughter Dorothy moved into Red House after the Sheltons. Tom Sharp lived in Red House for a while before his brother Noel and his bride made it their home. By 1968 the Sharp family was farming a total of 363 acres, much of which was devoted to cereal crops. These were barley, most of which went to Germany for brewing lager, wheat, which was sold to Hovis for bread- making, and oats. No root crops were grown on the farm. Livestock at this time included 400 sheep whose lambs were sold at Stamford market, 30 milking cows and 150 mixed cattle. All but sister Ivy worked full-time on the farm. She was housekeeper and looked after the poultry. Red House and Ivydene were demolished in July 1975 and the occupants of both houses moved to North Luffenham.

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Ivydene farmyard from the north-east (Bryan Waites)

The Sharp sisters at Ivydene. Ivy, on the left, was housekeeper and looked after the Above: Mary Sharp feeding a Friesian calf poultry. Mary on the farm (Noel Sharp) worked on the farm (Edna Locke) Left: The farmyard pump at Ivydene (Noel Sharp)

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Ivydene

Ivydene was a large stone-built, L-shaped building, roofed with Collyweston slates. It is possible that it had been two homes at some time during the nineteenth century. In 1970 the main accommodation included nine bedrooms, a kitchen, The living room pantry and two living rooms. There were two fireplace at staircases in the building. The ‘best room’ had Ivydene with an Adam fireplace and the adjoining room a tiles portaying tiled fireplace, each tile portraying one of Aesop’s fables Aesop’s fables. Two bedroom windows, looking north, at the east end of The appropriately (Jim Levisohn Ivydene were barred, suggesting that these rooms were, at some time, used named Ivydene just ARPS) as nurseries. The wing attached to the north and west of the main living before it was accommodation had two cellars. demolished in July Although mains water was laid on 1975, viewed from just before 1954, a nearby well Red House continued to provide water for the farmyard (RLHRS) dairy cooling system until the 1970s. Electricity was laid on in 1956. One of the tiles from the fireplace in the living room at Ivydene. The tile was made by Maw & Co, Benthall Works, Jackson, Shropshire (Noel Sharp)

One of the few surviving envelopes addressed to Lower Hambleton (Noel Sharp)

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Red House

Right: Red House This red-brick building with its farm from the Collyweston slated roof was built in south-east 1795 according to the date picked out (Richard Adams) in blue bricks on the south gable. On the ground floor it had a living room, Middle Right: Red a large kitchen and a utility room. House in the There were six bedrooms, three of process of being which were in the attic. There was a demolished disused well inside immediately in (Jim Eaton) front of the back door. This particular well proved to be an obstacle when the Below Right: contractors went in to demolish Red Lower Hambleton House. As the front end of a bulldoz- letterbox would er crawled over the well, the cover col- now be a lapsed and the machine got stuck, an collector’s item ignominious beginning to its task of (RO) razing this farmhouse to the ground. Stone barns formed two sides of a cobbled yard and those at the eastern end had at some time been used as an abattoir and butcher’s shop. A Victorian letterbox was set into the wall of one of the barns which ran alongside the road. It was removed before the building was demolished. Former Occupants of Ivydene and Red House

The occupants of these two farmhouses in 1797 were Joseph and Nicholas Needham and their families, but it is not known how long they were in residence. Red House may have been a public house, known as The Bull, Nicholas Needham being the publican. Recent research suggests that the following families were occupants of Ivydene or Red House during the nineteenth century and up to 1915 when Thomas Sharp first went to live at Ivydene. Assuming that the following were occupying one of these two properties, it is still difficult to determine, with absolute certainty, which family lived in which farmhouse. The properties have therefore been labelled A and B. The list is not exhaustive, particularly as Ivydene may, at some time, have housed two families.

A: circa 1841 – circa 1894: In 1841 Mary Fryer, a widow and farmer, was living here with seven of her children, and a male and a female servant. She was probably the widow of John Fryer, the son of William and Ann Fryer, who in 1797 were living in nearby Hoyles’ Cottage.

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By 1851 Mary was farming 130 acres and was helped by her son William and daughter Eliza. They had a live-in house servant, Ann Dexter, and Mary employed two men and a boy to work on the farm. Although William had married by 1861 he continued to live at Lower Hambleton with his mother. Mary, aged 77 years, was still head of this household in 1871 and was recorded as farming 136 acres of land and employing one man and two boys. Ivydene from the William Fryer and his wife Mary Ann continued to work the same farm south. Note the after the death of his mother Mary. By 1881 the total land farmed had Victorian letterbox increased to 243 acres. Living with William and his wife was a general in the barn wall A distant view domestic as well as an agricultural servant. William was still living in Lower (Sheila Drake) of Ivydene and Hambleton when he died in 1894. It is not known whether his widow con- Red House from tinued to live here. the south-west circa 1898 – circa 1915: in the early Matkin’s Oakham Almanack records that Edward Bonnie Wilson Ward and 1970s. Wade’s his son Edward Ward were resident in Hambleton in 1898. Edward lost his Cottage and wife the following year. Both men were farmers and in 1901 they appear to Hoyles’ Cottage be occupying both Ivydene and Red House. Edward, born at Pickworth, was had already 76 years of age. Living with him was his granddaughter Hannah aged 23 and been grandson William aged 19. In the other household was his son Edward, 34 demolished years of age, born at Sproxton, Leicestershire, his wife Lucy, their children (Tony Traylen) Florence and Henry, and Edward’s mother-in-law, Sarah Dorman. Although Edward snr, Edward jnr and his wife were buried in Hambleton in 1925, 1949 and 1952 respectively, none was resident in Hambleton at those dates. The Ward family were related to Thomas Sharp who occupied Ivydene about 1915.

B: circa 1841: In 1841 William and James Hibbitt, both farmers, may have lived in Ivydene or Red House. In the same household were two female members of the family, possibly the wife and daughter of James, and a female servant. The Hibbitts were not born in Rutland. This family does not appear in the Hambleton Census Return for 1851. circa 1857 – circa 1880: It seems likely that a Richard Healey lived in one of these farmhouses. When two of his children, Francis and Harriet, were baptised in 1857 the parish registers confirmed that they lived in Lower Hambleton. In 1861 Richard, aged 37, was living with his wife Sarah, six children, a governess, a kitchen-

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maid, a housemaid and a shepherd. At that time Richard farmed 175 acres and he employed two labourers. Although Richard died in 1871 his widow was farming 270 acres and employed three men and two boys. Living with Sarah were six of her children, a housemaid, a general servant and a farm servant. circa 1898 – circa 1915: Either Edward Ward or his son, Edward, as detailed in farmhouse A. Ivydene stands isolated in Wade’s and Hoyles’ Cottages 1975 (Jim Eaton) In the 1970s Wade’s Cottage and Hoyles’ Cottage were owned by the Sharp family, farmers who lived at nearby Ivydene and Red House. The cottages were unoccupied at this time and had been for a number of years. A large grain dryer towered over both cottages, making them unsuitable for habitation. Although the survey of 1797 gives the names of the occupants of these cottages, it is difficult to determine who lived in them during the nineteenth century. The census returns do not identify individual dwellings, but there is evidence to This photograph, suggest that on occasion, one or both of the cottages may have been occu- taken by George pied by more than one family. Henton in 1914 (ROLLR H1009) Wade’s Cottage shows Wade’s Cottage from the When viewed from the south, Wade’s Cottage south-west with its appeared deceptively small. However, there new thatch was a large wing to the rear, the thatched roof of which swept down to first floor height. A date stone set into the west elevation of this cottage indicated that it was built in 1729. The Rutland Field Research Group inspected this cottage in 1973 and recorded that the walls were of stone, with wattle and Wade’s Cottage daub partitions. There was also evidence of external bread ovens. from the The last known occupants of this cottage were Henry and Mary Ellen south-west Wade and their two daughters who were living there in 1901. Henry was the (Noel Sharp) son of Thomas and Lavinia Wade. In 1871 and 1881 he was living with his parents, possibly at April Cottage. The 1901 Census Return records that Henry was an agricultural labourer, that he was 42 years of age and that his place of birth was Wing. His wife Mary Ellen, who was 41, and their

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One of the children Beatrice Mary, aged 12, and bread ovens at Jessica aged 11, were all born at Wade’s Cottage Hambleton. Henry and Mary remained (RLHRS) in Wade’s Cottage for the rest of their lives. Mary was nursemaid to Mary, Ivy, Tom, Frank and Noel Sharp of Ivydene, and was affectionately known as ‘Nanny Wade’. Henry died at Lower Hambleton in 1941 and Mary Ellen in 1949. After the death of her parents, Jessica continued to live, for some time, in Wade’s Cottage as sole occupant. In the 1950s she left Lower Hambleton, moving into one of the Thomas Fryer Almshouses at Manton. A musical photograph album belonging to the Wade family was pre- sented to Rutland County Museum in 1967 (RCM 1967.16). It dates from the mid-nineteenth century. It is a bound volume with ornamentally printed pages. There is a musical box in the back cover, which plays ‘Nae Lick Aboot the Hoose’ and ‘Last Rose of Summer’. Richard Roberts, a labourer, his wife Mary and their seven daughters lived in Wade’s Cottage in 1797. Richard may have occupied this cottage from as early as 1779. Estate records for Burley on the Hill note that he was a good tenant and kept his home well maintained. He died in 1807 and his wife died thirty years later, at the age of 83. Sarah, daughter of Richard and Mary, married Francis Hill, an agricultural labourer, from Manton, in 1831, and it is highly likely that they lived in Wade’s Cottage. Francis, as head of the household, and Sarah lived with their son Richard until their respective deaths in 1855 and circa 1871. When widowed in 1855, and up to 1871, Sarah became head of the household. Richard, the son, was a carpenter, and he and his wife Eliza were definitely living in Lower Hambleton when three of their children were baptised in 1863 and one in 1867. The Pastures Book 1862 (private collection) records that Richard Hill was regularly employed by the stewards of the Hambleton Cow Pasture. The Pasture had an acreage of Nanny Wade’s 102 acres and was divided copper was into 80 cow commons. salvaged before the Richard’s annual bill aver- cottage was aged about £7 from 1863- demolished. 71 and it appears that this Cleaned and was for fencing. After polished, it now 1871 and until 1887 he makes a fine was only employed by the ornamental stewards on a few occa- feature (private sions and the work that he ownership) did was a fraction of that

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done in the 1860s. The Census Returns suggest that this family lived in Wade’s Cottage until after 1871. By 1881, due perhaps to the death of Sarah, his mother-in law, and the subsequent termination of the tenancy, Richard Hill and his wife Eliza had moved to live at the Post Office in Upper Hambleton. Thus ended almost a century of the Hill family living in Lower Hambleton, and almost certainly in the same cottage. It is not known who occupied this cottage during the next two decades. Hoyles’ Cottage

This stone-built, thatched cottage had dormer windows at both north and south ends and it appears to have been extended over the years. In 1970 it had three bedrooms, a living room, lounge, kitchen and a utility room. The occupants of this cottage in 1797, when it was described as a farmhouse, were William Fryer, his wife Ann and their five children. Three more of their children had been baptised Hoyles’ by 1803. Exactly how long they lived in this farmhouse is unknown, but it is Cottage from probable that the family, or their descendants, moved into the adjacent Red the west. A House well before 1841. different stone Edward Wadkin may have moved into Hoyles’ Cottage, or possibly the was used for adjacent Wade’s Cottage, before 1841, and he may have shared one of these the south end houses with another family, but it is difficult to be certain. Edward Wadkin, of the cottage born circa 1786, was a carpenter. In 1841 he lived in Lower Hambleton with and this may his wife Jane, his son, William, daughter-in-law Rebecca and one-year-old be a later grandson Philip. In 1851 Edward was still head of the household and his son addition shared his father’s trade. At this time William and Rebecca had five children. (Bryan Waites) William’s mother Jane died in 1847, his father Edward in 1862, and his own wife Rebecca in 1856. His daughter Mary had married David Horn by 1875 and they and their four children were living with William in 1881. Up to this date four generations of the Wadkin family had lived in the same house. The section of the 1891 Census Return which includes Lower Hambleton appears to be missing; consequently it has been difficult to determine where individual families lived. However, the 1901 Census indicates that William Dolby, an agricultural labourer, his wife and three children may have been living at Hoyles’ Cottage. From about 1936 a Mrs Noble lived in this cottage. A Peter Stewart lodged with her and he married her daughter Violet. Mrs Noble ran a shop in Lower Hambleton and this was located between her cottage and the barns of Red House farm. Kemmel Freestone, who lived in nearby Beehive Cottage remembered:

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‘It was a small building that was more like an old tin shed . . . we used to go in there to get our stamps and we were able to buy biscuits and sweets . . . the sweets were in jars and they had to be weighed on scales. There was none of this pre-packed stuff then. They didn’t sell many provisions.’ During the 1940s, a land girl and Rosie Clements from Upper Hambleton lodged with Mrs Hoyles, the then tenant. In the 1950s Mr and Mrs Laity [Rosie Clements] and their son Barry were the occupants of Hoyles’ Cottage. Woodbine House

Woodbine House This farmhouse was named Woodbine House because of the Woodbine growing around the front door. On the ground floor from the east end there was a large kitchen, a dairy, a dining Stone-built room and a lounge. To reach Woodbine the dairy, which contained House from the several thralls, one had to go north in the down three steps. The brick 1960s. The east lean-to at the east end of the end of the farmhouse was a bathroom. building on the At the side of this was a wooden coal shed. The room south side was above the kitchen was used faced with red as a storeroom and there brick (Tony were four bedrooms. Traylen)

Brothers Neville and Winston Gregory and their sister Monica were born at Woodbine House. Neville had taken over the smallholding in 1942 from his father, John Arthur, and it came as a shock when he learned, in 1968, that he was destined to lose his home and 120 acres of land when the reservoir scheme became a reality. The holding was a mixed farm; cattle and sheep were kept and some corn grown for winter fodder. On the site were several small buildings for cattle and implements. At this time of great uncertainty, Woodbine House was also home to Neville’s wife Joan and their sons Nicholas and Marcus. Knowing that he was to lose his livelihood, Neville moved and found work as a farm manager outside the area. Joan and her two sons continued to live in the farmhouse for as long as possible but when the farm buildings were being knocked down they knew that they had to vacate the property. They moved to Red House (now The Old Hall Cottage) at Middle Hambleton. Members of the Gregory family had lived at Woodbine House for more than a century. The time span may be greater for Neville’s family had firm links with this farm going back to the eighteenth century. Neville’s grand- parents, Robert and Mary Gregory, had made Woodbine House their home circa 1866. Robert was a grazier. Those living in Woodbine House in 1871 were Robert aged 68, Mary his wife 45, their three sons, Fred, Walter and John, and Sarah Allen, a servant. John, often confusingly referred to as

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Arthur, his second name, was Neville’s father. When Robert died in 1882 his wife Mary continued to work the smallholding along with her son John Arthur and his wife Olive. Mary and John are described in Matkin’s Oakham Almanack as graziers and poultry dealers. Mary was buried at Hambleton on 9th April 1921, her son John on 15th July 1942. Neville was a direct descendant of another Robert Gregory who was baptised at Hambleton in 1766. Robert married Jane, daughter of John and Martha Reeve on 17th November 1796. Jane’s parents lived in what became known as Woodbine House and it is almost certain that she was born in this Lower farmhouse. Her father was a tenant of the 9th Earl of Winchilsea. In 1797 Hambleton John Reeve was a farmer who reared calves for sale. from the The smallholding stood on the site of the medieval village of Nether north-east. Hambleton and over a three-year period from 1973, the Rutland Field Woodbine Research Group were able to survey and excavate an area alongside what was House is left of identified as an early village street. This was to the south-east of the farm- centre with Red yard. House and It is thought that the ground floor room at the west end of Woodbine Ivydene to the House had been licensed to hold church services. Marcus Gregory confirms right (Jim that a pulpit and various other items of church furniture were stored in one Levisohn of the first floor storerooms in the 1960s. ARPS)

Below: Woodbine House from the south-east on the left (RLHRS)

Below Right: Looking south-east from the excavation area. East View is to the right, April Cottage to the left (RLHRS)

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Clarke’s and Charity’s Cottages

These picturesque thatched cot- Charity’s Cottage tages were featured as ‘Reservoir in the late 1960s. Victims’ in the Stamford Mercury of The variety of 19th November 1971. In all, the building materials newspaper produced a series of indicates the eight articles describing properties extent of additions destined to disappear due to the to the original construction of Rutland Water. At cottage (Joan this time the two properties were Wild) known as Clarke’s and Charity’s Cottages, named after recent occupants. The brick cottage at the north end of the building had been home to Tom Charity and his wife Emma for over 40 years. As reported in the newspaper article, it was not easy for this elderly couple to accept that they were to lose their home. Tom stated: ‘Nobody has told us anything and we don’t know when – and where we are going . . . I’ve got used to the idea of moving now, but my wife, Emma, is still very upset. This has been our home now for so many years – it’s a great upheaval having to move at our time of life.’ Clarke’s and Charity’s Cottages from the north-west. The original stone-built cottage is at the southern end (Jim Eaton)

Three years previously, in the Stamford Mercury of 23rd August 1968 Emma Charity had forcefully expressed her views on the proposed construction of the reservoir: ‘Why they want to build it here I just don’t know . . . It’s all right for those high-up men who sit behind desks all day: they don’t seem to realise they are dealing with human lives. They can’t know the suffering they are going to cause and I shouldn’t think any of them have seen some of the beautiful

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land here. The Government tell the farmers they want them to produce more corn. How can they when they are taking all their land for roads, this reservoir and other schemes . . . I am just hoping this won’t happen . . . We’re going to sit tight as long as we can, but you’ve got to face the facts. My husband and I are over 70, and I don’t think we shall be here when the scheme is finished.’ Mr and Mrs Charity moved into a newly built bungalow, for elderly residents, at Upper Hambleton. Clarke’s and Charity’s Cottages were on the Lyndon road below Middle Hambleton. A mid-seventeenth century map of Thomas Barker’s estate Part of Thomas shows ‘Sammons Close and House’ at Barker’s mid- this location. This was almost certain- seventeenth ly the original stone-built part of century map Clarke’s and Charity’s. By 1797 the identifying building was occupied by two genera- ‘Sammons tions of the Broome (Broom) family: Close and Henry and Sarah lived in ‘Half the House’and house’ and their son John, his wife ‘Dibworths and family lived ‘in the other part’. Close & Whether the brick extension to the House’ north had been built by this time is (Edward not known. Conant)

Mary, the daughter of Tom and Emma Charity, at Hambleton School circa 1945. Mary is on the right (Noel Sharp)

Tom Charity in the garden at Lyndon Hall. Before retirement Tom worked on the railway (Sir John Conant)

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The indistinct Census Return of 1841 for Hambleton appears to confirm that there were no members of the Broome family resident in Lower Hambleton at this time. However, by 1851 Henry and Sarah’s grandson, Richard, was living at Clarke’s or Charity’s Cottage. He is recorded as head of the household, and living with him was his wife Ann and three daughters. Richard and Ann were still living there in 1861 and may have remained there until their respective deaths in 1869 and 1866. Richard was an agricultural labourer and in the 1860s the Pasture Book records that the stewards employed him on several occasions. He was paid 4s for a day’s work. In 1865 the work that he undertook was ‘Thistle Mowing’, ‘Clotknocking’, ‘Drawing Rails & Cleansing Watering’. A Coleman Clarke married Richard’s daughter Louisa, circa 1869. It seems that he continued the tenancy after the death of Louisa’s parents. Louisa’s brother Robert, sister-in-law Hannah, and their family, had been living in the other cottage prior to 1861 and continued to do so for at least another twenty years. The 1871 Census Return records that Coleman was a shepherd. Ten years later he was described as a cottager. On several occasions during the Thelma Clarke, 1880s and 1890s he was employed to do some fencing by the stewards of the middle right, at Hambleton Cow Pasture. For each day’s work he was paid 2s 6d. Hambleton Coleman and Louisa Clarke were still living in Lower Hambleton in 1901, School circa together with three of their daughters and a son, Harry. Harry was baptised 1945. She was at Hambleton on 7th June 1885 and as an adult was often known as the daughter of ‘Stodger’. He continued to live in the stone-built cottage, known in the 1960s Harry and as Clarke’s Cottage, with his wife Emma and their children, Coleman, Emma Clarke Thelma and Mildred. As well as having a small holding, Harry was also the of Clarke’s roadman for Lower Hambleton. Kemmel Freestone, who lived at Beehive Cottage, Lower Cottage from 1934-38, recalled: Hambleton ‘He didn’t stand very high – he was more of a dwarf and he was the road (Noel Sharp) sweeper keeping our roads clear and trimmed up. I knew him as Little Harry and he was referred to as 2 foot 2 and a tater [potato].’ Another former resident of Lower Hambleton remembered Harry as being ‘the best potato picker in the area. He was nearer to the ground than anyone else so he hadn’t so far to bend’. A Clarence Broome, whose family lived in Leicester, lodged with the Clarke family from about 1937. He was a cobbler and is remembered for selling ‘Beaver Boots’. These leather boots had a beaver trade mark on the heel tab and the best boots cost 7s 6d. It is possible, but not confirmed by present research, that Clarence, like ‘Little Harry’, was related to the Broome family of 1797. Harry and Emma Clarke left their cottage about two years before the Gwash valley was flooded. They moved to Manton. By 1901 Charity Cottage, later occupied by Tom and Emma Charity, may have become home to Robert and Emma Smith and their adult children, Alfred, Edwin and Ernest. At this time, Robert was a shepherd, aged 60

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years. He was born at Whitwell, and his wife, Emma, and all of their children were born in Hambleton. Robert died at Stamford in 1906 and was buried at Hambleton. His wife Emma died at Lower Hambleton in 1922 at the age of 77. Hambleton Parish Registers One of the difficulties for the researcher, when consulting the Hambleton Parish Registers, is that they rarely differentiate between the three settlements of Upper, Middle and Lower Hambleton. However, the following members of the Broome and Clarke families are specifically identified as having lived in Lower Hambleton: Broome (Broom): Henry, son of Robert and Hannah, baptised 20th October 1861. Albert, son of Robert and Hannah, baptised 6th September 1863. Richard, son of Robert and Hannah, baptised 16th September 1867. Ann, wife of Richard, buried 6th August 1866 aged 69 years. Richard, a widower, buried 10th February 1869 aged 72 years. Clarke: East View in Coleman, husband of Louisa, buried 2nd February 1920 aged 77 years. the 1960s when Emma, sister to Harry, buried 8th February 1967 aged 81 years. Emma it was home to died at Rutland Nursing Home, Langham. Coleman, son of Harry and Emma, baptised 24th March 1922. Harold and Thelma, daughter of Harry and Emma, baptised 23rd April 1922. Winifred Mildred Vera, daughter of Harry and Emma, baptised 9th January 1924. Tibbert. (Joan Wild) East View

East View had been bought in the late 1960s by Mr and Mrs Walter Barwell. He was a school groundsman for Rutland County Council and had originally purchased the farm with the intention of spending his retirement at Lower Hambleton. However his plans were thwarted. By 1973 his home was due to be demolished and his 50 acres of grazing land about to be submerged beneath the reservoir. East View was Reservoir Victim No 5 in the series of articles in the Stamford Mercury. In the edition for 29th October 1971 Walter Barwell said: ‘We had especially chosen to retire in this lovely valley and it is a great pity we won’t be able to. This is one of the nicest homes that is going to be demolished for the reservoir. I really can’t understand them taking so much land for this scheme. It isn’t really justified, as the reservoir will be so shal- low at this end – something like five feet of water.’ On leaving East View, Mr and Mrs Barwell moved to a newly built bungalow at Upper Hambleton.

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Former Occupants of East View In 1797 East View was occupied by Thomas Love, who was a butcher, his wife and five children. His descendants continued to live in this seventeenth- century farmhouse for over a hundred years. In 1841, Amos Love, assumed son or grandson of the above Thomas, was living in Lower Hambleton with his wife Elizabeth and six of their children. Amos was also a butcher. When he died at the age of 49 in 1847, his widow retained the tenancy of East View farm, which had an area of 21 acres. She may have remained here until her death, at the age of 85, in 1887. Living with Elizabeth in 1851 were her children Thomas, another butcher, William, Elizabeth and Harriet. In 1881 Elizabeth was described as a cottager, and the only other occupant in the house was her son William. The next occupant of East View farm was John Davis, a grazier. He was living here in 1901 with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Laura, who was a teacher. Elizabeth Davis was the daughter of the above Amos and Elizabeth Love. It is not known when this family moved into East View but it may have been as early as 1886 when John is recorded in the accounts of the Hambleton Cow Pasture. He was elected as one of the stewards for seven successive years from 1889. John and his wife were living at Lower Hambleton when they died; Elizabeth was buried in 1915, and John in 1920. Their daughter Laura married Henry Rutherford. Henry went to live in Lower Hambleton circa 1913 to work on, and eventually to take over, the smallholding run by his in-laws. Henry and Laura Rutherford had one child, Vera Margaret, who married Ernest Towell of Edith Weston in 1937. In the same year as her marriage Vera found her father, Henry Rutherford, drowned in a nearby pond. Later occupants of East View were Jack Shaw, Laurie his wife and son Tom, and Jack Ireland. In April 1939, Harold Tibbert and his bride, Winifred, moved into the farmhouse, and it was here that they ran a smallholding and brought up their five children, Peter, Rosemary, Sheila, Richard and Susan. The Tibberts left the Harold Tibbert farm in 1963, moving to Egleton where Harold worked as a farm labourer. who occupied Sheila Drake, née Tibbert, has many happy memories of her life at East East View from View, Lower Hambleton. She was born in 1944 and can remember her home 1939-63 (Sheila very clearly: Drake) ‘I can remember when I was very small, if we went out, when we came back we walked in the front door and had to stop just inside because we hadn’t any electricity . . . I would imagine it would be about 1949 . . . we used candles and paraffin lamps. As you went in the front door, on the left hand side were the stairs and then a passage went right through to the back of the house. On the left hand side at the back was the sitting room and on the right hand side was the kitchen and that was the room we virtually lived in; then

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on the right hand side of the house was a scullery. You could go through the kitchen into the scullery. The scullery is the bit stick- ing out at the side of the house. At the back of the kitchen there was a big pantry . . . you went down some steps . . . it was quite cold, almost like a cellar. We had a pump in the kitchen for cold water. It must have pumped the water up from a well. There wasn’t piped water at that stage. We didn’t get piped water until we had a bathroom built on the back of the scullery. Prior to that we used an outside closet round the back – it was an earth closet. We used a tin bath when I was a child . . . we bathed in front of the kitchen fire. That was the whole of the ground floor. Upstairs there were three bedrooms. Outside at the back there was a big corrugated shed, it wasn’t a barn, but a shed that was open fronted where we kept the tractor. On the left-hand side of the house and going away to the back there Winifred was the original cowshed and then there was a shed attached beyond that. Tibbert with The cowshed was brick-built with a tiled roof . . . it had piers and mangers her son Peter at the back of it. Then later, but I can’t remember what year, we had a who was born modern cowshed built with a shed at the end where the milking machine at East View in was cleaned.’ 1940 (Sheila Harold Tibbert had a small, mixed farm and in his daughter Sheila’s Drake) words, ‘He was a one-man band, he used to do everything’. He reared lambs, calves, pigs and chickens, and these were sold at Melton Mowbray market. Also sold at market were eggs, milk, hay, potatoes and wheat. Hay, peas, mangolds and kale were specifically grown for feeding the animals. The Tibbert children all helped on the farm, particularly during the school holidays. Lambing time at East View in the 1950s (Sheila Drake)

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April Cottage

Susannah Swanson, a widow, and her daughter Mary lived at April Cottage in 1797. They had occupied the cottage for many years but by 1800 Susannah had died and her daughter was in an almshouse. The cottage was built of stone and, at this time, partly thatched. It is difficult to determine who occupied this dwelling after the Swansons. The Hambleton Census Returns for 1871, 1881 and 1901 indicate that the family of a Thomas Wade may have lived here. Thomas, a stonemason, his wife Lavinia, four sons and one daughter, were occupants in 1871. By 1901 the widowed Lavinia was 79 and head of the household. Living with her were her son Thomas, a grazier, and daughter Lavinia, who were both in their 50s. Thomas, the last surviving member of this branch of the Wade family, died in 1914. It is reported that a Mr and Mrs Smith lived here during the 1920s. A Miss A Blackwell, housekeeper to Miss Maud Tryon of Old Hall, Middle Hambleton, lived at April Cottage from circa 1931. When Above: April Miss Tryon retired in 1949 she went to live with Miss Blackwell. Cottage from Mrs Smale occupied the cottage during the early 1960s and Edna and the east in the Ernie Locke lived there prior to buying Beech Farm, Middle Hambleton, in 1960s. The roof 1966. April Cottage then became home to Ernie Locke’s brother Jack and his on the north family until they moved, in 1968, to the cottage adjoining Beech Farm. April side was very Cottage was then used as a holiday home before it was demolished for the low, finishing reservoir in August 1975. well below ground floor ceiling height (Richard Adams)

April Cottage in 1975. The semi- circular windows and doors are reminiscent of a chapel (RLHRS)

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Residents of Lower Hambleton Some burial entries in the Hambleton Parish Registers state that the abode of the deceased was Lower Hambleton. The following people (not listed in the main text) were recorded as living in the hamlet: Edward Billington buried 29th October 1859 aged 82 years. Ann Billington buried 9th February 1860 aged 77 years (wife of Edward). Herbert Smith buried 9th March 1916 aged 6 days. Elsie Mary Smith buried 7th July 1921 aged 7 years. She died in the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London. Mary Jane Smith buried 25th January 1924 aged 40 years. Annie Winterton buried 11th June 1968 aged 89 years (of East View Farm). Names of people who may have lived in Lower Hambleton according to the Hambleton Census Returns: 1841 & 1851 Edward and Ann Billington (burials noted above). 1851 Henry Tyers, widower, daughter Annie and sons Amos and John. 1861 Robert Watkin, a cottager, his wife Elizabeth and daughters, Ruth and Jane. 1861 William Francis Fryer and his aunt Mary Fryer. 1861 Thomas Cooke and his wife Mary. 1861 George Cunnington, agricultural labourer, his wife Sarah, three sons and a daughter. 1871 & 1861 Robert Watkin, a cottager, his wife Elizabeth.

The Black ‘Tin’ Hut Until the early 1970s there was a ‘corrugated iron’ shed on the south side of the road to the east of Woodbine House. For its last few years it had been used as a storage building by the Rutland Field Research Group, who were carrying out an archaeological rescue excavation in the adjacent field prior to the area being flooded for Rutland Water. Before this the building had been there for at least 30 years and it had an interesting history. Marcus Gregory, son of Neville, who lived at Woodbine House, remembers this shed quite vividly. Although his father had used it, in the 1960s, as a hen house and for storing corn, it had previously been used as accommodation. Marcus recalls that there was a fence round it, creating a small garden area, and that the entrance was through a gate and a porch on the south side. Inside was a room of reasonable size which served as a living area and kitchen. On the west side of this room there was a wood-burning range. It had a timber floor and the walls were partly covered with wood panelling. An extension on the north side was used as a bedroom. Winifred Tibbert, who with her new husband Harold, went to live at East View, Lower Hambleton, in 1939, recalls: ‘There was a shed next to Gregory’s farm that was really meant for accommodation, although it only looked like a shed. A black shed, but there were two rooms and a fireplace in it. Harold said the walls were insulated but I don’t know how. Probably double thickness and it was used for accommodation. Old Jack lived there and after he’d gone a temporary school teacher lived in it.’ Winifred’s daughter, Sheila Drake, who lived at East View from 1944 until 1963, can also remember this shed:

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‘I remember a tin hut along that road. We used to call it the hut but it was possibly a little house. I never went into it. It was like a corrugated iron bungalow. I seem to remember it had a chimney so it must have been designed for living in. There was a chap called Jack who used to live there. There was nobody living in the building when we left. The Jack who lived there was a bit of a strange character in a child’s mind. I didn’t know anything about him and never saw him working anywhere. Whether he went into Oakham to work or whether he worked around Hambleton, I don’t know but he seemed to live there quite a while.’

The black ‘tin’ hut at the side of the road near Woodbine House in Lower Hambleton (RLHRS)

Left: The ‘tin’ hut from the south in July 1974. By this time it was being used as a site hut for the nearby archaeological excavation (RLHRS)

Middle Hambleton

Whilst all of Lower Hambleton disappeared when Rutland Water was creat- ed, Upper Hambleton escaped due to its hilltop location. However some of the houses, farm buildings and land in Middle Hambleton were not so fortunate.

The location of houses demolished in Middle Hambleton during the 1970s added to the OS 2nd ed 25" map 1904

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Beech Farm

Beech Farm, Middle Hambleton, was one of Beech Farm, two farms in the hamlet which was demol- Middle ished for Rutland Water. Hambleton in In 1895 this farm was bought by the 1960s Thomas Fryer, a grazier from Manton. At (Sheila this time the farmhouse was unoccupied, Manchester) but prior to this the tenant had been Thomas’ cousin Charles Fryer. This and the following information is taken from docu- ments in the ownership of Sheila Manchester, a descendant of Thomas Fryer. A Conveyance dated 15th May 1895 states that Thomas Fryer acquired: ‘All those closes, pieces or parcels of pasture land and gardens situate in the Parish of Middle Hambleton in the County of Rutland together containing by admea- surements twenty seven acres thirty perches or thereabouts . . . Together with the mes- suage or farmhouse, yards, barns, stables The and other outbuildings adjoining and com- Conveyance of municating with the said land . . ..’ Beech Farm in 1895 (Sheila Manchester)

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The property was sold by Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond- Willoughby, the 1st Earl of Ancaster, for £1,250. The Conveyance indicates that it had been part of the Heathcote estate as early as 1834. Thomas Fryer had moved into Beech Farm by 1901. At this time he was widowed and living with him was Sarah Emma Brown, his housekeeper. Thomas did not reside at Beech Farm for long for he died 11th November 1902. He is buried, alongside his wife Mary Ann, at Egleton. The main beneficiary of Thomas’s will, dated 2nd August 1901, was his second cousin Richard George Fryer of Somerby, Leicestershire. Beech Farm remained in Richard’s family until it was sold at auction in 1966. An Executors’ Account of November 1902 gives an insight into the livestock then kept at Beech Farm. Royce of Oakham sold ‘lambs, beasts, calves and heifers’ for £154 14s and ‘sheep & horses’ for £151 7s 6d. One of two veterinary surgeons employed by Thomas was G E Gibson of An advertisement Oakham. for Furley & The account also lists local trades- Hassan, Funeral men and others with whom he did Furnishers of business. Amongst these were: R Oakham, as placed Draper, an Uppingham wine & spirit in Matkin’s merchant, J P Bramley, mineral water Oakham Almanack manufacturer of Uppingham, C of 1916 Mould, confection- er of Uppingham, and F W Hart, grocer of Oakham. He The shop of obtained personal medicines from Norman & Hewitt of Frederick Oakham and he hired a Mrs Wade for nursing. Furley & William Hart, Hassan of Oakham arranged his funeral at a cost of £27 family grocer of 14s 3d and his solicitor was Ernest W Phillips of Oakham. Market Place, Left: One of the Oakham. It was grindstones on the site of used at Beech the present Post Farm (Sheila Office (Hart) Manchester)

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Following the death of Thomas Fryer, Beech Farm was rented by his descendants. From about 1905 it was occupied by John Thomas Williamson, farmer and grazier. Living with John was his wife Edith Annie and their son Cecil. After the death of John and the tragic death of Cecil in 1965, the farm was eventually sold by auction on 11th March 1966. Royce of Oakham were the auc- tioneers who advertised the farmhouse as ‘A very Attractive Freehold GRASS FARM with Stone-Built Farm House and Buildings extending to 27.937 Acres’. Sheila Manchester, of Brentingby, Leicestershire, whose mother owned Beech Farm, remembers: ‘Much earlier than 1954 the very old house had been joined onto the barn, making a very large dwelling. Williamsons only lived in part of the house. The Locke family, who bought the farm at the auction, repaired, Above: Sheila divided and modernised the property and Manchester, whose two families lived there.’ mother inherited Edna and Ernie Locke acquired Beech Beech Farm. Farm in 1966 and they ‘had high hopes for Sheila has many the farm’. They lived here with their five chil- happy memories of dren and Edna’s mother, Mrs Nellie Wright. her frequent visits Two years later Ernie’s brother, Jack Locke, to the farm in the his wife and mother-in-law moved into the 1950s and 1960s adjoining cottage at the north end of the (RO) building. This accommodation was known as Beech Farm Cottage. The two brothers had a drainage contracting business but by 1971 when the reservoir scheme had become a reality, Edna recalls ‘this folded, all because of the reservoir’.

Above: Beech Farm Sale Particulars in 1966 (Sheila Manchester)

Left: Beech Farm from the north-west in the 1960s. When Ernie and Edna Locke acquired the farm in 1966 they occupied the farmhouse at the south end of the building (Joan Wild)

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Beech Farm, mainly stone-built with a Collyweston slate roof, had three rooms on the ground floor as well as a small kitchen and a store. There were four bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. The Lockes had every intention of fully modernising the farmhouse and had firm plans for their future here. In order to realise their dream, they began by repairing the roof and by building a larger kitchen at the rear of the farmhouse. They also built three greenhouses where they grew tomatoes, cucumbers and flowering plants. This produce was marketed by Edna at the door.

Edna Locke in The Lockes had a herd of 50 cows and Edna recalled: her garden at ‘We had grazing land at Barnsdale for the Jerseys because they’re not like Beech Farm. Friesians; they will not feed on any old rough stuff. They’d calve up at Little did she Barnsdale and Ern would keep them for three days then bring them to me know that her and I used to do the calf rearing down at Beech Farm.’ property and The rented land at Barnsdale also included farm buildings which were Lower used for milking the Jersey cows. Most of the milk was sold but Edna Hambleton retained some so that she could churn butter from the cream. She did not behind her have a dairy so she used the kitchen table in the evening. would be lost to They also owned sixteen acres of land in Middle Hambleton where they the reservoir. grew barley which was used to feed the cows, and a large garden and Lax Hill can be orchard. Edna recalled: seen in the ‘We were hoping to make many alterations. We were going to have all background new windows because the previous farmer had got all these old sash win- (Edna Locke) dows and they were getting very rotten. We were going to turn the farm into a market garden and then Frank Knights [Reservoir Engineer] came round

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one day and he said, “I hate to tell you this, Mr and Mrs Locke, but there’s a reservoir coming here”. Well I blew my top. I said, “You’re not going to tell Beech Farm and me, Frank, that this hasn’t all come about in five minutes. Why didn’t we the nearby know sooner?” We signed petition after petition, all of us, but it was bungalow known Government you see and you can’t fight Government. We lost out in the end as Bunkley await . . . We had to sell up the herd because they took all of our best grazing land demolition in 1975 at Barnsdale for a new roadway. That’s the new roadway from Oakham (Edna Locke) to Stamford.’ After living at Beech Farm for nine years Edna and Ernie were compelled to move, leaving their home to be demolished. Not only did they lose their home but also their livelihood. However, they both found employ- ment with Anglian Water and grew to enjoy the new landscape and the fishing that the reservoir had to offer.

When they lost Beech Farm Edna and Ernie Locke worked for the Water Authority and Ernie took up fishing as a hobby (Edna Locke)

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There were four cowsheds and a pigsty to the east of Beech Farm. When the reservoir is at low water the remains of foundations and concrete floors of some of these buildings can be seen (RO)

Parker’s Cottage

This attractive red-brick, thatched cottage in Middle Hambleton, known in the 1970s as Parker’s Cottage, was located at the side of the winding road leading down from Upper Hambleton. John Parker, his wife Lucy and their family were recorded as living in Parker’s Cottage, Hambleton from 1871. When their son George, an agricultural worker, was Middle Hambleton married about 1890, he and his new wife went to live in this brick cottage (Edna Locke) in Middle Hambleton. George and Elizabeth Parker had seven children, two sons and five daughters, and as these grew up they helped to look after the smallholding that went with the cottage. George kept a few beast, pigs and chickens. In 1970 it was still home to two of George’s offspring, Arthur aged 70 and his sister Ada aged 66. Evidently the cottage had not been altered all the time they had lived in it. Contemporary newspaper cuttings show images of the couple sitting in front of a fire in an old- fashioned range, incorporating an oven and a boiler. Although Arthur was at this time a retired farm worker, having worked for the Sharp family at Lower Hambleton for 36 years, he still

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enjoyed looking after a few chickens. It was Top Left: therefore understandable that this elderly cou- Arthur Parker ple were unhappy about having to leave their and his home to make way for the construction of the sister Ada, reservoir. Arthur and Ada moved into one of owners of four new bungalows in Upper Hambleton, Parker’s specifically built for those who had lost their Cottage in homes in this way. 1970 (Edna Locke) Little Cottage Left: Little Known as ‘Little Cottage’ in 1960, this dwelling Cottage, in Middle Hambleton had been home to Middle William Edward Ludgrove and his wife Hambleton, in Elizabeth since about 1924. William died aged the 1960s 74 in 1933 and Elizabeth aged 93 in 1953. (Tony Traylen) Their daughter Ethel continued to live in this cottage until it was compulsorily purchased and demolished to make way for Rutland Water. Miss Ludgrove moved to another of the new bungalows in Middle Hambleton. The Limes Below: Bill and Catherine In 1971 The Limes was occupied by Charles Wakerley with Below: The Limes, William Wakerley, his wife Catherine and their son Henry. The family home their three Middle Hambleton was destined for demolition and Mr Wakerley, known as Bill, was about to children in 1968. The roof lose some 150 acres of good farming land in the Gwash Valley. William’s Steven, of Little Cottage father George Botherway Wakerley and his wife Anne, had farmed at Patricia and can also be seen at The Limes from about 1909. Four of their children, Tom, Harry, Charles Henry lower left William (Bill) and Grace Bettina were baptised at Hambleton between 1911 (Henry (Henry Wakerley) and 1914. Wakerley)

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Bill Wakerley built a replacement farmhouse on nearby land for which he retained the name of the old house. He and Henry continued to farm from their new home. The reservoir made access to their 30 acres of land on the south side of the valley a more time-con- suming exercise. This land, formerly within walking dis- tance, could only be reached by making a seven-mile journey by road, via Egleton and Manton. The main business of the farm was sheep and cattle rearing. The Limes was L-shaped and possibly built in three The Limes at phases, with the main elevation facing east. When the house was demolished Middle a date stone was discovered set into this elevation, indicating that this sec- Hambleton tion was built in 1628. The farm had five bedrooms, an upper store room, stands deserted two large living rooms, a hall and two kitchens. The farm buildings consist- awaiting ed of a four-bay wagon hovel, three stables, four cowsheds, a barn which demolition included a granary, a wash-house and a coal-house. One of the buildings at (Tony Traylen) the south-western corner of the yard was almost certainly a former cottage. It had a staircase and a fireplace. Although it is known that the farm was occupied by the Robinson family from 1901-08 it is difficult to establish with any degree of certainty who occupied it prior to this. Old Hall Cottages and Bunkley

Sir John Sir John Conant, owner of Old Conant with his Hall and its farm at Middle family at Hambleton (see Chapter 8 – Lyndon Hall in Hambleton: The Settlement on 1973 the Crooked Hill), was one of (Sir John the leaders of the ‘Don’t Dam Rutland’ campaign. However, when the Act Above: Old Hall at Conant) of Parliament was passed in 1970 sealing the fate of the Gwash Valley, 217 Middle Hambleton acres of his farmland were submerged. He also lost all his farm buildings as survived the well as a nearby pair of semi-detached farm workers’ cottages. Fortunately, inundation but it the high water level of the new reservoir was just below the seventeenth-cen- was necessary to tury mansion and it was possible to save it by means of a low embankment. protect it by an embankment (RO)

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Above: The bungalow in Middle Hambleton known as Bunkley which was only four years old when it was demolished. This view is from the south-east (Tony Traylen)

Left: Old Hall farm buildings which were to be demolished for the reservoir (Sir John Conant) A brick bungalow near Beech Farm in Middle Hambleton was built by Lady Periwinkle and Sir John Conant about 1967 to provide accommodation for the foreman of Old Hall Farm. Within four years it had fallen victim to the bulldozers constructing the new reservoir. At the time of demolition this Right: The road to bungalow was known as Bunkley, after an adjacent field known as Bunklins. Old Hall from Middle Hambleton and the semi- detached farm workers’ cottages on the right which were lost when the reservoir was built (Sir John Conant) Above: The start of the demolition process near Old Hall. Several of the farm buildings have been demolished while others await their fate. The deserted semi-detached farm workers’ cottages also await demolition (Jim Levisohn ARPS)

Left: When Rutland Water is at low level the foundations of Bunkley are often revealed. Old Hall, in the background, narrowly escaped demolition (RO)

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Other Homes that were Lost Mow Mires The Griffin family owned Mow Mires from about 1930 and in 1971 it was home to farmer John Griffin and his family. In the October of that year they were compelled to move out as the demolition gangs were preparing to clear the site for one of the planned ‘borrow pits’. The clay taken from these pits was to be used for constructing the dam. John Griffin lost all but about fifteen acres of land at Normanton. Mow Mires His crops in the Gwash Valley included wheat and barley but the land from the south- around his house was used for grazing. east in 1970 Mow Mires, built of Ketton Stone, was once part of Normanton Park (Jim Levisohn Estate. It was about a mile south-west of Empingham, just off the private ARPS) drive through Normanton Park leading to the Hall. Mow Mires was advertised as part of Lot 62 in the Estate auction of 1924. The lot was described as ‘A Valuable Little Holding’, and comprised The Keeper’s House with a large vegetable garden and various outbuildings. At this time the house was divided into three cottages, two having a sitting room, three bedrooms, a kitchen and scullery, the other a sitting room, two bedrooms and a scullery. Outside there was an earth closet and coalhouse serving all three cottages. The outbuildings consisted of a ‘Coach House, two stall stable, with loft over, Fowl House, two-bay Cart Shed, Store Room, Large Game Larder, Mow Mires, the entrance lodges to Normanton Park and part of The Belt on the OS 2nd ed 25" map 1904

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Top Right: The [and] Slaughter House’. drive leading to There was also a range of Mow Mires in ‘Off Buildings’ including two 1972 (Jim wood and tile loose-boxes Levisohn ARPS) and a stone and slated one- roomed cottage which had Middle Right: The formerly been an entrance location of The lodge to Normanton Park. Willows and Part of the park and pasture Keeper’s Cottage surrounding the Keeper’s below Barnsdale Cottage, and two wooded Hill on the former areas, Mow Mires Spinney to Oakham to the north and The Belt to the east, were Stamford Road. also included in the sale. In the event, Taken from the OS the Lot was withdrawn and later sold 2nd ed 25" map privately. 1904

Bottom Right: The Willows and Keeper’s From a newspaper Cottage, Barnsdale Hill cutting, showing David and Irene The Willows and Keeper’s Cottage were Goodrick at the located at the foot of Barnsdale Hill on gate of their home the former Oakham to Stamford Road. in 1968. They Mr David Goodrick and his wife moved out of The Irene moved into The Willows about Willows in the 1932. They were understandably upset spring of 1971 to hear that their home of nearly 40 (Stamford years was to be demolished for Rutland Water. Until his retirement in 1960 Mercury) Mr Goodrick was Works’ Supervisor with Rutland County Council. Keeper’s Cottage was on the south side of the road and virtually oppo- The north and east site The Willows. It was built at the beginning of the twentieth century and, elevations of The on OS maps of that time, called Barnsdale Cottage. In 1968 it was home to Willows circa 1968 Mrs Bernadette Webb and her three children. (Bryan Waites) Both cottages were vacated and subsequently demolished in 1971. The sites are now covered by up to 30ft of water.

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